Survey of educators: Back-to-school far from back-to-normal

A fall survey of 1,074 U.S. teachers and administrators captures the frustration of many Georgia educators who are finding this school year even more difficult than the last.

That’s because the push to “go back to normal” is undermined by the abnormal circumstances that persist from COVID-19, including high student absenteeism due to quarantines, increased behavior problems among kids and outsized expectations about catching up students while also meeting their complex social and emotional needs.

In the national survey in October by the Clayton Christensen Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank, 34% of teachers described their students as “slightly behind” and 46% said “behind.” The institute began a two-year series of nationally representative surveys in the fall of 2020 to chart education conditions and practice in the wake of the pandemic.

Forty-two percent of teachers reported working more than 61 hours a week with 21% reporting weekly total hours of 81 or more. Asked to enumerate their chief struggles in their classrooms, more than 60% led with frequent absenteeism, social and emotional problems and holding kids accountable for their schoolwork. These issues were cited at even higher rates by middle and high school teachers.

Teachers were able to provide comments about what they were seeing this fall. Among them:

• “There has been a huge increase in the number of students in quarantine for 20 school days. Providing them with online work is a huge project and feels like a second full-time job.”
• “I am surprised by the major social/emotional problems the 4th and 5th graders are having. It’s almost as bad as a Pre-K student when they first start school and cry for their parents. I’ve had 4th and 5th graders break down crying saying they want their mommy.”
• “Students have forgotten how ‘to school.’ … They forgot how to deal with deadlines, time management, and what it was like to show up to the building five days a week.”
• “Students lack motivation to complete work when they were given so much forgiveness for COVID. Why do anything if you can just say you’re having a rough time and get it forgiven?”
• “Most teachers feel like zombies just going through the motions of the day. The workload is unreal. The pressure on teachers during this time is more than ever before.”
• “This job entails too much — it’s not teaching as much anymore, it’s social work. I am not trained in that area, nor do I want to be a social worker. This is the position the schools have been placed in, and therefore I do not plan on continuing teaching or working in schools.”

Some teachers in the survey said COVID-19 created opportunities to do things differently. Among those comments: